Police: Four charged in violent Stamford street robbery
STAMFORD — Police have arrested two young men and two juveniles in connection with a violent street robbery that left a 70-year-old hospital worker with a broken jaw and facial fractures one month ago.
An investigation using surveillance cameras that traced the movements of the four before and after the robbery resulted in confessions from each regarding their involvement in the late-night attack, according the arrest affidavit for the two men.
At the Friday arraignment at the Stamford courthouse for the two adult defendants — Arquis Campbell, 19, of Millpoet Avenue, New Canaan, and Bobby Brand, 19, of Maplewood Avenue — Judge Bruce Hudock held their court appearance bonds at $500,000 each.
Campbell and Brand were each charged with armed robbery, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, second-degree larceny, second-degree assault of a victim over 60 and illegal use of a credit card.
After reading the report of the November 6 robbery, Hudock told Campbell and Brand they should have known it would not take much to cause serious injuries to a person of the victim’s age, and they were lucky that the victim survived the brutal ordeal. He transferred the case to the Part A docket, where the most serous cases in the courthouse are adjudicated.
Their attorney for bond purposes only, Mark Welch, did not address the allegations against the two. Their cases are being assigned to the office of the public defender.
“Investigator David O’Meara worked tirelessly pursuing the movements of the suspects in order to get a break in the case that could lead to their identities. Officer Felix Martinez is credited with identifying the first suspect and the case gained momentum from there,” Lt. Tom Scanlon said “This was a senseless violent crime that was committed against an elderly gentleman that was just trying to walk to work. I am extremely pleased that the team of investigators put this case together as quickly as they did to take these offenders off of the street.”
The juveniles, both 17 according to police, had separate arraignments due to their age. The two, whose names were not relesed, were charged with firstdegree robbery, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery and second-degree larceny.
According to the arrest warrant for Brand and Campbell, police were called to Stamford Hospital at 11:05 p.m. on Nov. 6 on the report of a man who was brought to the emergency room after being beaten and robbed. The man said he was walking to work at the hospital when he came upon four young men at the corner of West North Street at Hillside Avenue.
One of the men asked what was in the bag he was carrying, according to the warrant. When it appeared he did not want to give it up, the younger man said, “I’m going to ... you up,” and struck him twice in the face, causing the victim to fall to the ground, according to the affidavit.
The 70-year-old came to in the emergency room with no knowledge of how he got there, the warrant said.
After the robbery, the man discovered that his iPhone and two credit cards were missing, the warrant said, and about an hour later a charge was made on one of the cards via Uber Eats for $70 worth of Popeye’s chicken.
For three days, O’Meara searched through video surveillance cameras in the area and was able to document the suspects’ movements from about 10 minutes before the robbery to about an hour afterward, the warrant said. Campbell used one of the stolen credit cards to buy five Snickers candy bars at a market on West Broad Street minutes after the robbery, the arrest warrant said.
In all, the credit cards were used 13 times to purchase a total of $145 worth of goods, the affidavit said.
When Brand talked to investigators, he waived his right to an attorney and said it wasn’t until they saw the older man walking on West North Street that they decided to rob him, the affidavit said.
Brand told police that the second time he hit the victim, the man dropped to the ground and the group fled after taking his his keys, wallet, iPhone and credit cards, the affidavit said. The four returned to the scene minutes later and approached the victim again, the affidavit said.
Brand said he then asked the man for money and the victim gave him $20 in cash. At that point they handed the man his wallet back, minus the credit cards, along with his house keys, according to the affidavit.